Book Review: How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler (fantasy)

Title: How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying
Author: Django Wexler
Publication Date: 432 pages by Orbit
Genres: Fantasy
Protagonist Gender: Female

Even though I tend to find humorous fantasy . . . well, not hit-or-miss, but perhaps middling-or-miss, since so very very authors manage to nail the balance, I had high hopes for this because I enjoyed Django Wexler’s Burningblade & Silvereye trilogy. I mean, who doesn’t want to read about an oft-defeated hero of legend basically saying “screw it, if you can’t beat him, become them” and switching sides from good to evil.

The problem is that without all the prophecies and chosen-one tropes, moral injustices to rail against, social or political betrayals to avenge, or any of the other staples of the genre, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying just feels selfish and insignificant. It’s a fun read, equal parts silly and sordid, crass and clever, but it’s hardly the kind of fantasy you find yourself getting lost in. It relies heavily on the novelty of the premise to carry the story, but that novelty wears thin before the fantasy pays off.

That’s not to say this was a bad read. I did enjoy it, sometimes immensely, but it spent a long time lingering in the middle of the currently-reading pile. Wexler does some things very well here, including humanizing the monsters and undermining the black-and-white good-versus-evil simplicity of the genre. There aren’t a lot of well-developed characters, but I was rather fond of Tsav, sexy bald orc lady and Most Valuable Minion; Amitsugu, cunning fox-wilder and minion-with-benefits; and Droff, the droll and direct stone eater.

He also does a good job of layering in the humor. Where I generally chafe against footnotes, especially when they’re so numerous that they become a distraction, and only serve to pull in pop culture meta references, I actually found them an enjoyable addition here. Combined with Davi’s narrative, it forces a ‘modern’ layer onto the story, and that made for an entertaining read, even if not an immersive one.

Perhaps the biggest stumbling block for me was that there’s always an ‘out’ or a narrative ‘reset’ to the story, where death doesn’t mean the end of the story, just a chance at a do-over. That robs the story of any tension, and while it lends itself to an air of mystery, wondering when the next reset might occur, the resulting lack of stakes is what kept me at more of a distance than I’d like.

Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀

My sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.